1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a genome analysis on a cell image photographed by a microscope or the like for biotechnological research and development, drug manufacturing, and the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to efficiency improvement in the analysis by automatically clipping images of each cell from the cell image, specifying types of each cell, and displaying the images and the types of each cell as a list.
2) Description of the Related Art
Recently, following an advancement of genome science, a study of identifying a protein localization pattern and observing a morphogenetic change for a cell into which a cDNA is injected, that is, a study of identifying functions of a DNA by performing a quantitative analysis on a morphogenetic change induced by injection of the cDNA into the cell is conducted. There is, for example, a demand for determining gene expressions, determining a class of a protein localization pattern, and performing a screening to determine how a cell changes by injecting a gene into the cell so as to confirm pharmaceutical effects.
To meet such a demand, therefore, a change in a stained or fluorescently colored cell is observed by a microscope. A system that automatically captures an image during the observation is conventionally put to practical use. These conventional techniques, by means of a plate on which many wells (holes) are arranged for cell cultivation, enable cells to be cultured in large quantities and to be observed and screened by the microscope.
A microscope-based image capturing apparatus HTS-50 manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd is one example of a product. The apparatus has a function of calculating quantitative and numeric values such as a flatness of a cell, a length of a neurite, and a stained nucleus from cell images. However, the apparatus does not analyze individual cells but a texture of an entire image or a total extension of elongate structures. Besides, the system is generally manufactured on the premise that an experimenter visually checks all raw images. On the other hand, Beckman Coulter Inc. (United States) put into practical use an apparatus and an application for analyzing microscope images. Similarly to the HTS-50, the apparatus and application of Beckman Coulter are provided on the premise that an experimenter visually checks the images.
Further, Japanese PatentApplication Laid-open No. H5-249102 is one example of the conventional techniques.
These conventional techniques have, as described above, a disadvantage of a need for a person to visually check images one by one in a screening. With such a method for visually checking an experimental result and extracting individual cell regions manually, it is disadvantageously, extremely difficult to process images in large quantities generated in experiments conducted for multiple cDNAs.
Specifically, although it suffices to obtain one result from one well, several images to several tens of images are actually generated from one well. Since about one hundred wells are used in one experiment, several hundreds to several thousands of images are generated in one experiment. Besides, even if the images are displayed with reduced sizes, a necessary cell region occupies only a small area (for example, 1/400) of the image. The images cannot be, therefore, displayed as a list without processing them. Moreover, a success probability of injecting cDNAs into cells depends on a type of a target cell, a type of a cDNA, or a property of a culture medium, and sometimes the injection is successful only one cell in a hundred cells. Thus, since the cells in which the cDNA is injected are present only sporadically, it disadvantageously takes lots of time and labor to locate these cells and to manually name each protein localization pattern and each cellular morphogenesis.
Furthermore, to analyze images and display a result, a uniform processing is conventionally performed on entire images. Therefore, the result is often displayed for each image. Since the success probability of the cDNA injection is low in cDNA experiments, it is necessary to discriminate cells injected with cDNAs from those non-injected with cDNAs. Further, because of multiple types of fluorescent patterns and a feeble pattern in a background, such as a noise, it is disadvantageously difficult to discriminate each cell pattern from the background. In some cases, all cells are fluorescently colored. In other cases, a part of cells are fluorescently colored in a grainy manner. If the adjacent cells are entirely fluorescently colored, they need to be separated from each other. If the cells are fluorescently colored in a grainy manner, it is necessary to recognize a dark part between grains so as not to regard it as the background. Thus, even if the experimenter visually checks the result, it is often difficult to make a clear determination. As a result, it is disadvantageously impossible to improve experimental and analytical efficiencies.